Thanks for the replies you two. For the sake of argument, I have at least one individual who may or may not try to fudge time-based mechanics. Because of this, I needed a consistent way of measuring cities out for the sake of time travelled when the party goes about their business within a city. It also gives me a better idea of what time of day it will be by the time the party gets to a particular destination within town, which obviously has a big impact on what they may expect in certain parts of the city.

Ultimately, the more information I have on a city, the better I can work in reasons for events to play out the way they do in a way that makes sense.

For the record, I just need to know where sections of the city are located within and without its walls. I don't need to know each individual house, unless it's a particularly important building.

Hello, everyone. I'm currently in the middle of running a somewhat ad hoc campaign arc where the direction of content is dictated by the players' choices. Up to this point, it's been fairly easy to generate what I needed due to towns and dungeons being simplistic for one reason or another.

However, the party is coming close to entering a large city that is nestled between a forest and a river (Woodsedge, Galt to be specific).

While there is basic info on the population found in the Inner Sea World Guide, I have no idea how to make use of that bit of info in building a convincing city map.

Given the population of the city, what is a good metric for deciding how many square miles this city should sprawl out. I usually find these sort of details to be the most tedious to work out, and I fear that I may lose my interest in running this campaign over something silly like this. Any advice would be appreciated!

I've been messing about with a concept for a rage prophet with the body bludgeon rage power:

A Halfling family with an infant loses said child in an accident that most may consider a tragedy that the parents could have prevented. Somehow, while being unable to bring themselves to bear a new child, the parents come across a half-orc baby, perhaps abandoned at their door or found alone at the edge of their community. They raise the child with as much love as their first, with an added caution that some may consider unhealthy.

The half-orc is usually advised to stay in his room for his own good, unknown to the Halfling parents that the spirit of their dead child now haunts the very room the half-orc child now resides in, attempting to fill the half-orc's mind and dreams with visions, suggestions, and madness.

Any noticeable changes in the half-orc only came to be known during his adolescent years, where his 'imaginary friend' urges him towards strange behaviors, bringing his Halfling parents great concern.

After 10 years of becoming slowly possessed by this infant apparition, the half-orc is driven to his first rage -- a rage that causes him to kill his own parents in an attempt to bring the first child and his parents back together in death. Having found great joy in reuniting the Halfling family, he now wanders the world with the corpses of his mother and father, which he keeps remarkably preserved and maintained through the use of various medical techniques and Gentle Repose. He is pressed onward now not just by one voice, but by three.

His method of fighting involves using the preserved corpses of his foster parents as two-handed weapons via the body bludgeon rage power.

I wouldn't give a barbarian a magic device until much later, as they normally don't have the charisma, skill ranks, or the class bonus to make use of it. Besides, they have beast totem rage powers, so they can pounce without beast shape.

The spell I'm thinking of allows the caster to grow a tentacle, wing, or hoof, any of which can be used as a secondary natural attack. It takes the target 10 minutes of 'practicing' with the limb in order to get used of utlizing it. It lasts 1 hour per caster level. I *think* it's a lvl 3 spell.

If anyone has heard of this spell, can they tell me the name of it and what book it is found in? Thanks!

Is this the usually play style of your GM? I'd understand this if your GM would commonly pull the rug out from under you, as an antagonist who somehow escapes is going be back to his/her old tricks. At the very least did the GM explain some of the things that you guys *could* have done to prevent this from happening? If so, were they completely outlandish, given your characters' scope of knowledge on the situation?

He's never really pulled his punches before. This may just be a slightly more extreme version of his old tendencies.

We had NO knowledge skills in the party during this play test, which ultimately proved to be a constant pain (such as not knowing simple things like trolls needing fire or acid to be truly slain or important things like that the waters might be dangerous--my barbarian was blinded for THREE days).

Ilja wrote:

Have you or anyone in your group recently tried to use planar binding wish-slaves or similar? I could see it being a "payback" in the vein of "if you don't want the DM to do it, don't do it yourself".

Other than that, yeah, I think it's pretty much a mean thing to do. One shot or not, it's not fun to lose without an honest chance.

Nope. We haven't had a a game over 10th-level in almost two years it seems.

EDIT: Been saying ifrit when I should have been saying efreeti. Got confused because the GM kept referring to her as an "ifrit genie."

I wasn't talking of knowledge in the sense of game terminology, sorry, but did you have any situational or plot indications that matters could have been handled differently by your characters, did this antagonist even 'curse you wretched adventurers for setting her back, and that you all will rue the day when she comes back with a vengeance, etc.'?

Is this the usually playstyle of your GM? I'd understand this if your GM would commonly pull the rug out from under you, as an antagonist who somehow escapes is going be back to his/her old tricks. At the very least did the GM explain some of the things that you guys *could* have done to prevent this from happening? If so, were they completely outlandish, given your characters' scope of knowledge on the situation?

Going by what is stated in this post alone, I think it's a matter of two kinds of speed. Overland speed, I believe, is a sustained average distance traveled over a day (long term). This is meant to account for and project the time it would take to travel great distances given a mode of transportation.

After looking into the rulings for vehicles in UC, however, it appears that what is stated is a matter of speed, acceleration, etc. in the context of being in combat (short term). Such rules are meant for tense, high-action moments of vehicular conflict, chases, etc.

So, in your example, the two heavy horses would be able to pull a cart 16 miles per day, but when in combat, refer to the UC vehicle rules for distance travelled per round.

After all, the Gunslinger is the only class that actually has more weapon proficiencies than a fighter. On top of that, it has a d10 HD, decent saves, and usually makes good use of a high dex, which means a gunslinger's AC is decent, coincidentally. It would be a shame that a player wouldn't consider these aspects when he drops all of his feats into one basket, namely using a gun very well.

I'd imagine a creature such as that would only change its behavior if you make it worth its time. I could definitely see a Chimera becoming a fair-weather friend, provided you give him the means and opportunity at living a standard of life far preferrable to its current lot. Just make sure you take care of the more boring, tedious aspects of such a lifestyle -- I don't think a chimera would appreciate having to purchase his own choice bits of livestock. Also, don't expect a Chimera to stick around if a better offer is made to it -- they're chaotic evil in most cases, after all.

Making yourself tiny, sans coffee golem, and flying would be the way to go. So a bat or a bird of some form would be your best bet, allowing you to hide easily, get better positioning, and raise your ranged attack bonus by a great deal, for those ranged touch spells.

EDIT: Depending on your DM's permissions, you may be able to qualify for the monster feat Flyby Attack, allowing you burst out of total cover, cast a standard action spell, and fly back into total cover. Whether this would be considered cheesy or not, it's not really my place to say.

Exotic races seem like an easy (read: lazy) way to inject some creativity into an otherwise bland character. I'd prefer to see players take the more challenging path of creating a good backstory and personality than rely on gimmicks like horns and wings to make their character special.

After all, there are literally thousands of ways to portray a human character--as demonstrated in pretty much the entire history of human literature. Anyone who says "humans are boring" just isn't trying. And all too often, their 'original' concept is a cheap knockoff of an anime or video-game character anyway, so there's STILL no creativity involved.

From the "Pathfinder Lexicon" thread:

Special Snowflake: A unique, well-made, and interesting character that isn’t. See CHARACTER STORY, SNOWFLAKE SYNDROME.

Snowflake Syndrome: The desperate and eternally unmet desire to make your Drizzt clone stand out from all the other Drizzt clones by calling him “Drazzt” and giving him a pet leopard instead of a panther. See CHARACTER STORY.

Character Story: A deeply fascinating—-no, riveting-—bit of vital personal history which you feel obligated to share, even with those who were there at the time. Character stories may cause severe to acute boredom, blurred vision, drowsiness, numbness in the limbs, and a sense that both GAME TIME and REAL TIME have crawled to a standstill. None of these phenomena have ever been reported by the person telling the character story. (For a similar but non-PF-related phenomenon, consult any fisherman.)

You forgot to mention that this is in fact your opinion, and not a fact.

There are posts above that prove exactly why thís claim of yours is not factual.

While it may be an opinion, Calybos' spiel is a rather common viewpoint that shouldn't just be disregarded. A character's storyline and background should provide an interesting engine and structure by which he/she makes decisions and behaves. It shouldn't be a means by which one forces their fellow table-top players into a captive audience while he/she pelts them with exposition. Pardon my hyperbolese.

As for talking down the OP, instead of finding excuses not to field exotic races, use this as an opportunity to really flesh out what a world or campaign setting would react to the sight of such a being/creature. For example, in the Shore to Sea module:

Spoiler:

I had such a fun time making it painfully apparent that a player's Tengu Rogue was a *TENGU* rogue. Considering that the town of Gillmen were not only suspicious of outsiders, but incredibly back-water in their world-views, on top of never having seen a Tengu before, they were quick to correlate their current troubles with her sudden appearance, despite having saved the old man out at sea from the giant crabs. If it weren't for the gillman druid in our party to act as a buffer, it would have been a rather fruitless adventure for the rogue to even take part in.

If a player encompasses his/her character around the race they chose, provide opportunities to allow him to enjoy (or fear) the choice he made. As a DM, you have complete control as to how an environment acts and reacts to certain elements. While a certain race may not exist in a current campaign setting, perhaps this can be an interesting plot device to inject another element into your world.

It was explicitly stated by Jason Bulmahn in discussion of the recent Stealth Errata that successful stealth does deny Dex and thus make sneak attack possible.

Um, maybe I'm not reading things correctly but he then goes on to say:

"This does allow you to move from cover, use Stealth to approach a target, and make a single attack, at which point, Stealth is broken, regardless of the outcome. Now, if you slay that target with one hit, and still could maintain Stealth from all other foes in the area (if say, it is dark and they cannot see you), a GM might reasonably interpret that you could maintain Stealth from other foes, but that requires GM interpretation and is not really the point of this particular situation."

Which seems to indicate that once you make your attack vs an enemy from Stealth, you are no longer Stealthed regardless of whether you hit or miss, unless you kill the target outright - subject to GM decision. So you can't attack the same enemy from Stealth over and over again and get Sneak Attacks every time, unless you are flanking them - but regardless, after that first attack, Stealth is broken.

Note that in that first post he also said "It was our intent that if you are unaware of a threat, you cannot react to a blow". One could certainly argue that once you have an arrow lodged in your back, you are, shall we say... aware of the threat of arrows flying at your back lol.

As a foreword, sorry for the double-post.

According to the PRD:

PRD's uses of the Stealth skill wrote:

Sniping: If you've already successfully used Stealth at least 10 feet from your target, you can make one ranged attack and then immediately use Stealth again. You take a –20 penalty on your Stealth check to maintain your obscured location.

This use of the stealth skill was explicitly meant to fire at a target without them becoming aware of the sniper's exact location, given they cannot ferret out the sniper from each shot.

Assuming that the sniper is able to attack several times without being actually found, you may as well treat the sniper as if under the effects of invisibility (sans the +2 bonus to hit for attacking an opponent who can't see you). So long as they cannot find the rogue, they will be prevented from receiving a dex bonus to their AC from the rogues ranged attacks.

Don't be discouraged against tweaking your encounters to give the rogue a harder time, especially if he really is causing issues for the campaign. This doesn't mean making an encounter harder for everyone.

The problem here seems to be that the rogue doesn't seem to change his tactics at all -- he seems to *always* find cover and pick targets off slowly. In such a case, there's really no thinking for him beyond what target to shoot at.

Present his character with creatures within an encounter that would force him to think on his feet or change his tactics. Creatures of the ooze type, incorporeal subtype, and swarm subtype can more or less be considered the bane of an assassin that specializes in sneak attacking. All have immunity to crits and sneak attacks, swarms can be immune to non-aoe attacks entirely,and a number of them have lifesense and blindsight.

If you're just trying to add some variety to his decision-making, give him opportunities in combat to do something far more valuable than just putting an arrow into an enemy's noggin. Of course, don't just feed those opportunities to him, but allow him to see that those possibilities could be exploited under the right circumstances.

A rogue is supposed to be able to take various actions. The fact that your rogue player only chooses to do one thing seems a sad story.

Assuming this hair is the only natural weapon on your witch, it will be counted as a primary natural attack that deals 1d3 + 1.5x STR modifier in damage (assuming your witch is medium size). If you have claws or some other form of attack, there is no way for it to become primary -- that is, of course, you don't want to amputate your anatomy.

Assuming you have more than one instance of the 'hair' natural weapon type/form, you can have each hair natural attack count as primary attacks that deal 1d3 + STR modifier. How you could possibly get more than one instance of a natural hair attack, I don't know.

-In RL, Atheists are more likely of the viewpoint that a god or gods (immortal beings of immense, unexplainable, immeasurable powers) do not exist for practical reasons (we've never observed one before, what cannot be measured does not exist, etc.). There are exceptions, but this is usually the most common case.

-In a world such as Golarion, the reasons for doing so would probably be more varied -- those that believe gods are merely beings with powerful, difficult-to-attain abilities, only worthy of the respect their strengths can afford them, as one would respect and obey the authority of a nation/kingdom (practical); those that believe gods are deceitful tyrants that would have others believe their power gives them some form of dominion over mortals (moral); some that have attained such power as to give themselves a unique perspective -- one that would have them see these 'gods' in a less than divine nature (practical?).

I think in each of these cases is a common element -- a lack of faith that would place a deity as the end-all, be-all of an individual's existence. Just my two bits.

I'd advise against this course of action, if you're looking to optimize damage. As it stands, innappropriately-sized weapons carry their own penalties, in the case of a medium character trying to wield a 2-handed weapon sized for a small creature as a one handed weapon:

"PRD wrote:

Inappropriately Sized Weapons: A creature can't make optimum use of a weapon that isn't properly sized for it. A cumulative –2 penalty applies on attack rolls for each size category of difference between the size of its intended wielder and the size of its actual wielder. If the creature isn't proficient with the weapon, a –4 nonproficiency penalty also applies.

If you absolutely *must* take this route for two-weapon fighting, you'll be eating a -4 penalty on each attack with your Elven Curve Blade. Assuming you're a level 8 PFS rogue with 4 attacks coming from a small elven curve blade and a light weapon, your full-attack bonuses, without dex or other bonuses, would start out at:

+2/+4/-3/-1

An elven curve blade is a bit of a paradox in most situations. While it may be nice to have early on as a finessable weapon with a 1d10 damage die, those looking to use their dexterity to hit are normally those with a lower strength, hence the preference for the agile weapon property. Your BAB as a rogue probably couldn't take the penalties to hit from the Power Attack or Pirahna Strike feats, so even wielding a two-handed finesse weapon isn't that great, not to mention it's a liability if you happen to get grappled.

Cnetarian seems to have the right idea of it, though it may be a bit feat-intensive to take full advantage of a whip.

Magic must exist in the world, but sentient races are deemed unfit to wield magic (both divine and arcane) by the gods. In that same motion, the ebb and flow of arcane and divine energies must manifest themselves in different ways as either a side effect or a law of balance.

Henceforth, the gods bestowed upon the natural creatures of the world with all manner of fantastic powers along with the instincts to use them. Without ambition, the animals make use of their powers to survive, but are not corrupted by the power they wield. Entire ecosystems radically change to acommodate the repurposed creatures of the Material Plane.

In a world where true power is held by nature itself, the sentient races try to come to terms with two forces that were once under their control. Some have deemed this a time to defy the gods openly, and bring both nature and magic back into their grasps by any means necessary.

However, a few individuals have come to the natural and arcane as friends, guardians, or even servants. They throw themselves to this new paradigm with a show of humility, trust, and restraint. As a result, some of these animals have bonded with these individuals. Thus, the first trainers of Golarion are made manifest. With love and respect, these trainers entreat these majestic beasts to perform amazing feats of power. Through their bonds, both man and beast teach one another.

Considering that the Body of Ice ability is a supernatural ability that isn't dependant on your physical form, and not a polymorph spell, you can definitely have the effects of both active at the same time.

So you can't use Pistol Whip (even when spending grit) on an AoO, because Pistol Whip isn't an attack action.

Seems to be a discrepancy with these statements, despite your assertations (being unable to use a Pistol Whip in an AoO) being correct.

An attack of opportunity isn't even stated explicitly to be an action at all. If anything, an attack of opportunity behaves as a free action that can be taken at any point of combat when certain conditions are met.

As for my concurrence on the matter, the Pistol Whip ability only seems to consider the Gunslinger proficient with the fire-arm as a melee weapon during the standard action of the Pistol Whip.

PRD wrote:

Pistol-Whip (Ex): At 3rd level, the gunslinger can make a surprise melee attack with the butt or handle of her firearm as a standard action. When she does, she is considered to be proficient with the firearm as a melee weapon and gains a bonus on the attack and damage rolls equal to the enhancement bonus of the firearm. The damage dealt by the pistol-whip is of the bludgeoning type, and is determined by the size of the firearm. One-handed firearms deal 1d6 points of damage (1d4 if wielded by Small creatures) and two-handed firearms deal 1d10 points of damage (1d8 if wielded by Small creatures). Regardless of the gunslinger's size, the critical multiplier of this attack is 20/×2. If the attack hits, the gunslinger can make a combat maneuver check to knock the target prone as a free action. Performing this deed costs 1 grit point.

One may argue that, by RAW, it doesn't specifically state that the gunslinger *loses* that proficiency after the pistol whip is made. To which, I must pose the questions,"If it doesn't state when the gunslinger loses the proficiency, then when does it end? Does the proficiency gained ever 'go away'?"

Bottom line: I think it was intended for the pistol whip to only be a proficient melee attack during the ability's use, after the attack is made, the gunslinger is no longer proficient, and cannot make attacks of opportunity with it. Even in the case of expending a grit point during an AoO, you cannot make a pistol whip, because that requires a standard action to do so.

*with as gravelly and low-brow an accent and dialect as a keyboard can manage* "Cheerleader, eh? We dun 'preciate yer kind 'round here...."

I sure hope that's directed at my character and not me, or else we may have to throw down.

I plead 'Unfortunate Accident' to all charges of Cheerleading. I only did it for 1 year and I promptly told my whole squad off for being shallow idiots as soon as we finished our final competition. It was rather epic actually. So at the very least I deserve redemption points, if not a full pardon.

I wouldn't worry about it, I merely thought that one-liner would be funny to say. Now, for something actually constructive (and a bit more positive) to offer:

1.If you're going to get standard bearer as part of a multi-class character, you'll probably want to at least get 5 levels of it and then pick up the Horse Master feat. You now have a team mascot whose progression is based off of your character level rather than your cavalier class level. Drape it in whatever garish team colors you want.

2.Instead of a weapon that passes for pom-poms, how about getting a weapon that can have pom-poms convincingly attached to it? Spiked gauntlets, or preferrably a cestus, are both fist weapons that can easily have any manner of fluff, poof, or fleecy/sparkly material tied to them without changing any mechanics to them. Paint your fist weapons with the appropriately garish team colors, and voila -- lethal 'pom-poms', perfect for a dazzling display/braggart-type action. If you want to add to the glamour of it all and have feats to spare, Arcane strike would just add to the razzle-dazzle with your 'pom-oms' glowing and scintillating with arcane energy.

4. I'd have to admit Timothy has a great alternative to the belly button ring while keeping it a tattoo, as derogatory as it may be. All really depends on what type of girl your half-orc really is.

End result: 3 wolf companions, 2 being actual wolves, and 1 being a nightmarish epitomy of lupine ferocity. Also tons of castings of arcane and divine spells per day, to summon MOAR wolves, and then turn into a wolf yourself.

I have 8 players and despite this variety of people with different preferences, this race has only seen use as NPCs. The "bigotry" aspect of the Acceptance rules I use isn't too harsh, either. Not really sure why my players don't like them, unless it's for purely aesthetic reasons.

All I ever see my group playing is humans, half-elves, some form of full-blooded elf, or humanoid that looks INCREDIBLY close to either of these choices. If it doesn't fall within this category, they don't want to touch it. And any character they make *must* be attractive.

Completely unrelated, but I'm looking at all the ferocious-faced beasts and monsters baring fangs and teeth in each community member's avatar within the thread.... and then I get Zmar's derp-face lizard.

Regardless, now that we know there is a way of charging as a standard action (from either side of the argument), how would the initially stated situation be resolved? Would the monster's action be interrupted, or would the monster just attack Character A as its new target for the charge?

Are wrote:

Readied actions occur just before the triggering action. If the readied partial charge places Character A in such a position that the monster can no longer complete its charge, then the monster will have essentially lost its action.

Note that the triggering condition here is pretty difficult to adjudicate. It would be hard/impossible to tell who the monster plans on charging until it has moved at least some of the way there. It would be wiser to ready an action to charge when the monster charges, regardless of victim.

Note: I'm not sure I would allow this readied action, but it's probably okay considering the triggering condition can only happen during the surprise round (during which time a standard-action charge is legal).

If you're wondering about the balance of permitting such an action, consider this:

An arcane spellcaster can ready an action to cast a spell (a scorching ray, for example), at an enemy spellcaster attempting to cast something. The scorching rays fire off at the target, regardless of figuring out what spell the enemy was casting, and the enemy caster is forced to make a concentration check for each ray (DC = 10 + damage dealt + level of spell being cast) or lose the spell. Assuming caster level 12 (minimum required level for 3 rays), that's an average DC of 24 to cast even a cantrip during combat, that must be taken 3 times.

In short, the caster deals damage, didn't need to make a spellcraft check, didn't need the spell the enemy was casting, and the enemy caster has a very high chance of losing his spell.

Does that put the readying a charge to nullify a charge into perspective?

So, this may sound like a very specific situation that would probably never come up, but if it were to come up, I'm not quite certain how I'd resolve it:

During a surprise round, if a character or npc is able to act, they are allowed to make use of a standard action in that round. If Character A decides to ready an action to "standard action charge" a monster whenever it initiates its own "standard action charge" against any target other than Character A.

Let's specify these conditions further, and say that readied action only takes place if the monster's charge takes it at least five feet in a direction towards Character A's allies.

Because the monster's action is already invested in charging a particular character, would Character A's readied action 'block' the monsters charge, and therefore interrupt it. Or, since the monster has a perfectly valid target in front of it, would Character A be forced to recieve the charge attack instead?

I'm willing to be proven wrong on this, but I don't see a problem with the math. The axe has a 5% chance to threaten a critical. The sword has a 10% chance to threaten a critical. The multiplier is only 50% higher. I'm kind of bored with every fighter in the games I play using swords, so I'd love a good reason to pick axes aside from flavor.

In a statistically simple world, the battleaxe and longsword are exactly even in the long run. But that's assuming no crit riders and no overkill, no significant DR or need-20-to-hit opponents.

Ah, I stand corrected. Though with enemies that you need a crit to hit at all, the larger crit range would still provide more utility. Most DR can be overcome with the correct materials or magical enhancements. I still think the game leans towards swords being a better choice for front-line fighters.

In the case that you're merely looking to capitalize on a lot of critical feats, then I'd have to agree with you. Just dual-wield kukris and start applying a ton of debuffs to your target (assuming they're not immune).

Whether you were serious about your post or not, it gave me an idea for an alchemist with access to the Monstrous Physique I extracts and potions, along with the Extend and Eternal Potion discoveries, to be in the form of a Kappa (small monstrous humanoid that's basically a humanoid turtle) for long periods of time (eventually permanent). Not to mention it will have access to MUTAGENS.

What mutant turtle isn't complete without mutagenic ooze, after all?

Also, if you're not particular about what exactly is a mutant turtle, you can alway get a turtle animal companion and have anthropomorphic animal casted upon it. Might be dumb as hell, but if you can get it to 3 int, Improved unarmed strike would be a nice addition. Teach the poor thing to squawk simple phrases like 'Pizza!' and 'Cowabunga!'.

@Little Skylark - For me specifically no, I don't get to re-roll. Everyone else does if they die. -____-

Your not welcome, your not treated well, and they force you to play a character who's gimped. You may need to talk about this because that's a mess you shouldn't have to deal with. Its mistreating you and no one deserves it.

Technically the gimped part is my fault. I could've had a 10 to the stat, but instead I took it upon myself to roll and my bad luck never fails and I obtained a 2. In addition, sometimes its about principle. I understand the DM wants to give me harsh enviornments to play in, and that's fine. I want to play in this campaign, and arguing or talking this out is pointless. Especially when he actively avoids me.

Has anyone made mention of the Mobile Fighter archetype? If there was anything intrinsically wrong with the fighter class, it's the fact that this is an archetype rather than part of the base class features. Far more versatile, and has a 'pounce' that is arguably better than pounce (ex), in some cases.

Sure, no Gloves of Dueling for this one, but having to depend on a magic item being available to you as an 'advantage' is not always the best policy.

I suppose it depends on what you're going to have available to you via your GM's style of play. If your DM allows crafting a plenty in your group, the best way to go about it is Wizard 11/ Fighter 1/ Eldritch Knight 9.

Part of the idea is to take advantage of the ray's classification as a weapon through Arcane Strike, Weapon Specialization, and Point Blank Shot. The kicker of it though, is through the Arcane Discovery Staff-like Wand. This will allow you to take cheaply-crafted, low caster level wands, and apply your caster level and all relevant caster feats (spell penetration and greater spell penetration), to your wand. At that point, craft some Wands of Scorching Ray at the lowest caster level, and go to town with Arcane Strike giving a bonus on each ray.

If you want to get even nastier, forget eldritch knight, and go with Arcane Trickster. Here's a little math for what you're looking at endgame:

Wand of Maximized Scorching Ray within 30 ft of a flat-footed target (or better yet, used while under greater invisibility) as Wizard 11/3 Ninja/Arcane Trickster 6:

Considering that this is being made as ranged touch and you're invisible, the likelyhood of this hitting is quite high. Not to mention you're belting this sort of damage out of a measly wand, you can do this ALL DAY, and not worry about wasting spell slots on a simple blaster spell.

The closest I've seen to in such an Archetype is the Iron-skinned Monk for Hobgoblins in the Advanced Race guide. It gives up monk AC for a growing natural armor bonus, gives up fast movement for a growing DR/-, but does not give up flurry of blows.

It can make use of all of its abilities except flurry of blows when when wearing light armor (so the highest AC armor you'll be looking at is a Mithral Breastplate). Of course, you'd have to kill two feats or dip another class in order to make use of this.

According to the Universal monster rules, a swarm's damage occurs at the end of their move:

PRD wrote:

Swarm Attack: Creatures with the swarm subtype don't make standard melee attacks. Instead, they deal automatic damage to any creature whose space they occupy at the end of their move, with no attack roll needed. Swarm attacks are not subject to a miss chance for concealment or cover. A swarm's statistics block has “swarm” in the Melee entry, with no attack bonus given. The amount of damage a swarm deals is based on its Hit Dice, as shown below.

By RAW, this would mean that they end a move (action?), they deal swarm damage to whatever occupies the same spaces.

If one were to have a swarm intelligent enough to understand complex tactics, would they take advantage of their unique abilities by readying a move action to move on top of whatever may try to escape from their square? By doing so, could they possibly apply swarm damage twice in the same round to one or more targets?

Its from the Ultimate Magic take a look at the bottom of the page
Synthesist (Archetype)

hope this helps

Yes, I'm very much aware of that archetype.

As are most people in my gaming circles. They know them for the how often people can make them incorrectly, the strange rulings involved, the tons of errata needed just to know how they operate. A good deal of them opt to ban them in their games.

One of my goals is to actually get the essence of these mechanics without the complication or potential imbalance.

You might want to review my Metamorph base class for ideas and comparison.

Hm, this is good stuff! As for getting the dust off, I feel rather ashamed, as your thread isn't *that* old. I should've looked a little deeper to find it.

From the looks of it, I like the fact that you have mechanics in place to appropriate for the origins of powers. At the same time, I'm afraid of going that route myself. For example, if I were to take those 4 'paths' of origins into account, it's like saying the player can't be endowed with powers by any other origin or aesthetic.

From the mechanics of it, it seems you were more restrictive of which evolutions can be picked than I was, notably Ability Increase.

If you're curious to know, an Eidolon actually has 6 + INT Mod in skill points per HD, D10 HD, and a Fast BAB. The only reason they get 4 skill points per hd is due to their INT score of 7.

As for a 'buff monkey', this class doesn't come with caster levels of any sort, so he's out on that. His capabilities for stat increasing is greatly diminished. He can't haste, get the STR/DEX boost that a eidolon/animal companion gets, and the class as a standard can't become large or huge without great expenditure and for only a short time.

As for CHA, I believe the feel of the Summoner/Eidolon needing CHA is a matter of their personal bond, whereas this class is based on one's instinct and insight into his own abilities, and no small part of discipline and mental strength. Think Spider-man - "With great power comes great responsibility".

A lot of super-heroes have to show a great amount of responsibility, discipline, and wisdom in order to properly control their powers.

As for the social aspect of most heroes, they tend to garner respect and attention, so diplomacy and intimidate seem to go hand in hand with such an aspect.

Basically the inner struggle of the hero is emphasized, where the over-the-top personality of a hero is a secondary part of the class.

Before I get into the specifics of the class itself, I want to give a little bit of exposition:

A few months back, I was running a campaign for a few folks that was going to have some guest players. One of those players wanted to try his hand at playing a 'masterless' eidolon. As much as I wanted to make a way for it to work, this was a mere 2-3 hours before the game began, and it was a bit too much for me to compromise on at the time.

However, I wanted to get back to the idea and there are several issues that stand with it. I've always loved the open-ended mechanics of an eidolon, but the flavor seems to consign it to planar entities and arcane rituals. In some campaigns, such a creature acting as a free-willed entity (PC) would probably seem too much.
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Goals

With this in mind, I decided I wanted to create a class that:

-Features the varied abilities of an eidolon without the planar fluff.
-Doesn't mechanically overshadow other classes as some may consider the Summoner to do.
-Exemplifies the power of unique natures/bloodlines through physical attributes primarily, like a Bizarro Sorceror. Basically a 'super hero/villain' class.
-Leaves all of the complicated exceptions that similar concepts bring (lookin' at you, Synthesist).
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Description

There are always stories of adventurers that, by steel and spell, go out into the world to make their marks upon it. While most come by their prowess by honing their natural abilities, a Birthright takes this notion to an entirely different level.

A Birthright, much like a Sorceror, is an individual who finds himself granted a wondrous power by means that are anything but normal. Whether it was granted by strange lineages, magical infusions and rituals, or technological application, the Birthright grasps this well of power by force of will and discipline to shape it into something all his own.

Such powers manifest themselves in ways that grant this otherwise normal individual abilities that can bring low giants, shrug off the most devastating of blows, and more. As the Birthright comes to understand his abilities more clearly, his powers can be consciously shaped into new forms.

As varied as his nature may be to the next individual, a Birthright may find that his abilities allow him to champion the causes of good, evil, or his own goals. As such, a Birthright can be of any alignment or race.
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What's Established
-HD: D10
-Saves: Low Fort, Low Reflex, High Will
-BAB Progression: Fast
-Proficiencies: Simple Weapons, Light Armor, No Shields
-All evolutions and class features that have a DC use the following formula: DC = 10 + 1/2 Class Level + WIS MOD
-Granted 'evolution' points at the rate indicated in the Eidolon progression table.
-Maximum Natural attacks as indicated in the Eidolon progression table.
-Does not gain access to any of the following eidolon features/ special abilities: Darkvision, Link, Share Spells, Ability Score Increase, Devotion, Evasion, Improved Evasion, MultiAttack, STR/DEX Bonus, Armor Bonus, Skills, Feats.
-Does not gain access to the following eidolon evolutions normally: Pounce(Ex), Immunity (Su), Fast Healing (Su), and Large (Ex.).
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What isn't Established
-Perhaps Class Features and Abilities should only be usable while wearing light or no armor.
-Skill Ranks per level haven't decided yet, either 4+INT or 6+INT
-Class Skills (looking at Diplomacy, Intimidate, Perception, Sense Motive, Stealth, and Acrobatics so far)
-Thinking about employing a Ki Pool/Arcane Pool mechanic.
--The Birthright draws upon his power reserves to manifest abilities in a flash of insight.
--Used to grant evolutions as a swift action for short period of time.
--This will allow the Birthright to gain access to 'OP' evolutions in a limited fashion.
--Size of "Potential" Pool = 1/2 Class level + WIS MOD.
--This class feature will grow and expand in capability as the character progresses in the class, allowing for more options. For example, can begin to make use of more evolutions with one swift action, or even make use of evolutions as an immediate action (probably Capstone).
--Only gain access to such evolutions for 1 round.
--While the "Potential" point cost of activating an evolution will usually equal to the cost of the evolution normally, some may be made cheaper or more expensive (Open to suggestions on this one).
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I've seen folks throw around the idea of a standalone eidolon class before, but I hope I've got something to offer here as far as content is concerned.

This is still a work in progress, so I'll probably come back to this post and update it. Thanks for any feedback!

I apologize, but I find your request a bit vague. Are you wanting to figure out the average damage a monster should take at the given levels from a party, the average damage a character would likely produce at the given levels, or the average damage a monster would deal if it were an appropriate challenge for an APL of the given levels?

Oh, it wasn't a matter of it being imbalanced. But it seems strange -- for example, if one were staggered, you can make more attacks against the target 10 or more feet away than the one that is adjacent or 5 ft. away (free action to close distance) from you.

For the record, I love pounce. Can't make a martial/combat-oriented character without implementing it in some form or fashion.